Freedom House, a Washington-based group which promotes democratic practices around the world, says freedom has improved in Uganda and The Gambia over the last year.
The report highlights improvements in Uganda “due to the resilience of the media sector and the willingness of journalists, bloggers, and citizens to voice their opinions, though the political environment remained tightly restricted”.
But it says these are rare improvements as it says democracy is facing its most serious crisis in decades.
It said The Gambia’s status improved from “not free” to “partly free” as the newly elected president Adama Barrow came into office in January, then competitive legislative elections were held in April.
After former President Yahya Jammeh left the country exiled journalists and activists returned, political prisoners were released, ministers declared their assets to an ombudsman, and the press union began work on media sector reform.
It said 2017 was the 12th consecutive year in which global freedom had declined, with Zimbabwe cited as one of the countries were democracy had been eroded.
Specifically, it viewed the way in which former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was “compelled to resign in November” as setting country’s status as “not free”.
Among the other African countries that Freedom House considers as “not free” are Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Eritrea.
-BBC
